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Battlefleet Calixis
“O Eternal God Emperor: be pleased to receive into thy protection the souls of thy servants of the Fleet: Preserve us from the dangers of the void and our foes: That we may be a bulwark unto our fellow man and a shield for those who pass through the void, And we may return in triumph to praise your holy name.” –Common Ministorum prayer aboard Battlefleet Calixis “In the darkness of the void, a billion hungry xenos silently slip between the stars: gnawing like so many rats at the edges of our great Imperium.” — Hortrian Tybirus, Captain of the Divine Crusade, Battlefleet Calixis The men and women of the Imperial Navy’s officer class are a breed apart even from other void born. A cornerstone of the Imperium’s war machine, they descend from a long and noble line of naval families and warship clans that trace their history of service back millennia into the Imperium’s distant past. Many have links to the ruling classes of worlds that administer the battlefleet’s ships, where their house and their families are emboldened with grandeur taken from the spoils of war. They are a proud and martially-minded people with a strong sense of personal honor. They respect duty, loyalty and strength of character and despise weakness, inconstancy and deceit. Many are notably much more powerfully built than the void born of trade or chartist vessels, and thanks to their reputation as mankind’s shield, they are far better respected, though often seem to lack the void born’s legendary good fortune. The ships of Battlefleet Calixis are widely dispersed across the sector; some maintain the trade routes and well-travelled courses of the great chartist vessels, while others patrol the danger zones of the Adrantis Nebula and the Hazeroth Abyss where dark forces lurk still. But their most unpredictable and dangerous task is to guard the border of the Halo Stars, beyond which horrors uncounted and unknown lurk beyond the reach of Imperial space. The primary dockyard and headquarters of Battlefleet Calixis is the naval base Port Wrath in the Golgenna Reach. They also have a substation depot on Fenksworld, which was once the site of a terrible tragedy during the Angevin Crusade in which over fifteen warships, twenty mass conveyors, and countless other craft were lost in an expanding cascade of destruction as of the result of an Isstvanian conspiracy. Battlefleet Calixis has many responsibilities in the sector. They frequently patrol hostile regions of space, such as Eldar territory in the form of their interdiction of Seedworld AFG:218 and are tasked with intercepting any ships that would attempt to make contact with Craftworld Kaelor. 'Famous Vessels' Angevin’s Destiny: This ancient Imperial battleship is the flagship of Battlefleet Calixis and regarded as the savior at the Battle of Markayn. Calixius Esme: This Imperial destroyer is noted for leading fleets on successful punitive campaigns against Dust Raiders lurking in the Fydae System. 'Connections' Battlefleet Calixis has a strong relationship with the Skaelen-Har Hegemony, who produce and supply parts for its spaceships. This connection is strong, since without the Hegemony the Battlefleet Calixis would be completely grounded. In addition to this, many officers in the Battlefleet Calixis are from the Skaelen-Har, who make excellent Naval officers. This has caused much suspicion amongst the officer class of the Hegemony's motives in placing so many of its members on the sector’s warships. The militant Calixian Adeptus Mechanicus cult, the Divine Light of Sollex, has many tech-priests in Battlefleet Calixis, lending their expertise on weaponry to the crews of various vessels. 'Battlefleet Bridge Officers' The officer class of Battlefleet Calixis is largely noble, an insular society that permits few acceptable pastimes: hunting xenos beasts, for example---or for the cultured, acting as a scholar-errant to investigate the glorious Imperial past. Many a bridge officer’s retinue includes savants of history and keen-eyed explorators, and their possessions could stock a museum: hand-drawn site maps; pict-captures of ancient ruins; strange relics from a dozen worlds. An officer’s archeoexpedition is an opportunistic affair, capturing the spirit of a site and a few artifacts in a short time away from duty. Members are drawn from all decks---lesser officers currying favor, the servants they bring with them, low-deck hands for hard labor, and naval security to keep the scum in line. 'Port Wander' Battlefleet Calixis have formal primary authority over Port Wander. Without their guns and warships Port Wander would likely not exist today as anything more than a drifting shell or Ork-infested wreck. They have the means to destroy ships, enforce embargo and quarantines, and (potentially) bar the Koronus Passage to a vessel. These powers are theirs by virtue of the Imperial Navy’s duty in the Calixis Sector to protect the domains of the God-Emperor of Mankind. These are powers that they must exercise cautiously, however, lest they risk antagonizing other influential factions in Port Wander. As powerful as the Imperial Navy is, its officers and men are by no means beyond the reach of other Imperial factions. 'The Fleet and the Maw' Though the boundaries of the Calixis Sector end at the entrance to the Maw, there are certain Imperial organizations that venture beyond those bounds. Chief amongst them is Battlefleet Calixis of the Imperial Navy who maintains a watch of warships at Port Wander, the entrance to the Maw, and some say, within the Expanse beyond. This squadron, under command of Fleet-Captain Nathaniel Horne, is on extended detached duty from the rest of Battlefleet Calixis. Though the squadron---Passage Watch 27 Est---is not large, especially compared to Battlefleet Calixis as a whole, it is comprised of several cruisers, light cruisers, and battlecruisers, supported by multiple destroyer and frigate escorts. These ships have some of the most combat experience in Battlefleet Calixis, as they are almost constantly in conflict with raiders, pirates, and the occasional xenos vessel that come through the Maw to plunder the Calixis Sector. Passage Watch 27 Est is hard-pressed but vigilant, and on occasion has sent its distinctive crimson-prowed vessels on counter-actions and reprisals into the Expanse. This has led the ships’ crews to refer to themselves---only half-jokingly---as “Battlefleet Koronus.” 'Player Characters' Characters from a Battlefleet Calixis grand lineage come from a long tradition of heroic sacrifice, adventure and bravery. For generations, it has been their families’ sacred duty to keep the Imperium together and functioning by protecting its worlds from aggression and keeping the trade and communication lanes open, and they demand the respect that is their due. Regardless of whether they have followed their kin into direct military service or not, they have a tendency to be loud, confident and brash, but with the skills and mettle to back it up. Creating Characters from the Imperial Navy In order to create characters with an Imperial Navy lineage, use the Void Born template but replace the Charmed and Ill-Omened traits with those described here. Naval Lineage Skills You begin play with the Speak Language (Battlefleet War Cant) (Int) and you treat Common Lore (Tech) (Int) as a Basic Skill. Close-Quarter Fighter The business of the Navy is war, both in the cold void of space between vessels, and in murderous close-quarter boarding actions aboard them, battles for which you have been trained from childhood. Effect: Increase you starting Strength by +5. You also begin play with the Basic Weapon Training (SP) talent. In addition, when engaged in melee combat with your back to a solid wall or in a confined space, such as a narrow corridor, you gain a +5 bonus on Weapon Skill Tests. However, you are unaccustomed to fighting “dirtside” and you take a –1 penalty on Initiative rolls when fighting outdoors on a planet’s surface. Also, you take an additional –10 penalty on Ballistic Skill Tests when firing a weapon at Long Range or greater. Officer on Deck On a warship, orders are obeyed swiftly and to the letter or people die. The Naval bloodlines are used to bellowing orders and having them carried out, regardless of their actual status in life. Effect: You gain a +10 bonus on all Command Tests while aboard a star vessel. You also gain a +5 bonus on all Fellowship Tests made to interact with Void Born.